U.S. Nationals Day 1: Ryan Lochte dominates the 400 IM

 

8/3/2010

 

IRVINE, Calif. – Olympians Christine Magnuson and Ryan Lochte turned in the fastest times in the world this year in their respective events Tuesday at the ConocoPhillips USA Swimming National Championships.

 

Magnuson won the first event on the first night of finals with a world’s-best in the women’s 100m butterfly, turning in a time of 57.32. Then Lochte closed the session with a world’s-best in the men’s 400m IM, touching in 4:09.98.

 

The women’s 100m butterfly came down to the wire, with Magnuson, the Olympic silver medalist in that event, edging Dana Vollmer by 13-hundredths of a second.

 

Coming into the race, Vollmer posted the fastest time in the world this year (57.39) at last month’s LA Grand Prix, and Magnuson posted the second-fastest time (57.51) in the world in this morning’s prelims.

 

Magnuson led Tuesday’s race and was ahead of world-record pace at the 50-meter mark, and held Vollmer off down the stretch. Olympian Kathleen Hersey was third in 58.15.

 

“I pulled it off by staying calm, staying long at the wall,” Magnuson said. “I’m used to racing Dana. She’s a great competitor.”

 

The men’s 400m IM featured a showdown between the top two swimmers in the world last year in that event – Lochte and Tyler Clary. Clary held the lead through the 250-meter mark, when Lochte seemed to wake up and turn on the afterburners.

 

By the end of the breaststroke leg, Lochte built a body length lead on Clary and hammered his way home. Clary finished about four seconds behind in 4:14.12, while Robert Margalis finished third in 4:15.62.

 

Perhaps making Lochte’s win more remarkable was the fact that he injured his groin in practice about two weeks ago and hasn’t been able to swim breaststroke since. As of yesterday, Lochte wasn’t even sure he would compete in this event.

 

“After the first 50 (of the breaststroke leg), I just went for it,” Lochte said. “I’ve done the work. I’ve trained for it, now I just got to step up and race.”

 

In other races, Olympian Peter Vanderkaay beat the rest of the field by about two seconds in the men’s 400m free, defending his 2009 national title in that event with a time of 3:46.88.

 

Vanderkaay swam a textbook race, taking the lead at the 200-meter mark and building a body-length margin on the rest of the field as he powered his way to the finish. Michael Klueh was second in 3:48.24, while Charlie Houchin was third in 3:48.30.

 

Vanderkaay’s win Tuesday marked his fifth national title in the 400m free in the last seven years.
“That’s the fastest I’ve ever been in jammer,” Vanderkaay said. “I didn’t know where I’d stand coming into this event time-wise, so I’m pretty happy with that effort.”

 

Defending world champion and world record-holder Ariana Kukors won the women’s 200m IM in 2:10.54, holding off challengers Caitlin Leverenz and Morgan Scroggy in the final 50 meters of the race. Kukors led the field from the first turn onward, but held only the slightest margin of a lead over Scroggy until the breaststroke leg, when Kukors started to pull away.

 

Leverenz also made her move at that point, and moved into the second-place spot. She finished three-tenths of a second behind Kukors in 2:10.84, while Scroggy was third in 2:11.25.

 

“I just talked to my coach, and there were some small errors in there that make me cringe a bit, but it’s a great opportunity to look at the small things in the next two weeks before Pan Pacs,” Kukors said.

 

Coming out on top of another close race was Mike Alexandrov, who nipped Olympian Mark Gangloff and National Teamer Eric Shanteau in the men’s 100m breast with a time of 1:00.26. Less than half a second separated the three at the finish, with Gangloff finishing second in 1:00.42 and Shanteau finishing third in 1:00.75.

 

“This is definitely a breakthrough for me,” said Alexandrov, who switched sport citizenship from his native Bulgaria in 2008. With his win Tuesday, we will represent the United States in two weeks at the Pan Pacific Championships.

 

“I knew I was going to take it,” Alexandrov said. “I was confident and my training’s been great. I really thought I was going to break a minute.”

 

After a disappointing 2009 in which she failed to qualify for the U.S. World Championships Team, three-time Olympic medalist Katie Hoff found herself back on top Tuesday, winning the women’s 400m free with a time of 4:05.50, the fourth-fastest time in the world this year.

 

Hoff built about a half-body length lead on the field at the 200-meter mark and maintained that lead as she cruised home. Hoff’s 2008 Olympic teammates, Allison Schmitt and Chloe Sutton battled it out for second and third, touching in 4:06.19 and 4:06.33, respectively.

 

“I was just happy to have a good swim and kick Nationals off right,” Hoff said. “There are people in the world who have been faster, but I’m getting there.”

 

This year’s ConocoPhillips USA Swimming National Championships will decide the U.S. team roster for a number of international competitions in the next year, including the 2010 Pan Pacific Championships, the 2010 Junior Pan Pacific Championships, the 2010 FINA Short Course World Championships, the 2011 FINA World Championships and the 2011 World University Games. Team rosters will be posted on usaswimming.org as they are released.

 

The meet resumes tomorrow with prelims and finals of the women’s 100m backstroke, men’s 200m freestyle, men’s 100m backstroke, women’s 200m freestyle and men’s 200m butterfly. Complete results can be found at usaswimming.org/nationals.